Report: Study Groundwater at Wallops
Explosion Site (Source: DelMarVa Now)
The country was mesmerized Oct. 28 by the launch of the Antares rocket
at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, but not for what went right. About
15 seconds into flight, the rocket came tumbling back to the ground in
a fiery explosion. Something went wrong and operators hit a
kill-switch, detonating the rocket, which was bound for the
International Space Station carrying supplies and experiments.

Despite initial concerns, and ash that rained down in the area, a final
report on the environmental impact of the explosion shows only two
recommendations moving forward — a groundwater study, and possible
continued monitoring.

Water and soil inside and around the crater were found to have levels
of perchlorate (which is used to produce rocket fuel) that could
adversely affect workers, the report said, as well as high levels of
two other fuel-related chemicals. Perchlorate levels were initially
more than 600 times the maximum contaminant level allowed for drinking
water. (4/16)

Sierra Nevada Extends Cooperation with
German Space Agency (Source: SNC)
The cooperation builds upon the successful one-year Dream Chaser
technical agreement signed in 2013. The new agreement, which extends
through 2017, will continue the developmental work on advanced
technologies the crewed and uncrewed Dream Chaser spacecraft. One of
the cooperative activities completed this year was the Dream Chaser for
European Utilization (DC4EU) study performed by SNC, OHB Systems AG
(OHB) and DLR. (4/16)

Lawyers in Space (Source:
Foreign Policy)
The U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Legal Subcommittee,
meeting currently for the 54th time, is the primary international forum
responsible for developing guidelines and laws for human activity in
space. This group works on the legal problems that arise as companies,
nations, and international bodies expand their presence beyond the
planet. Some of these questions are both thorny and profound: On the
agenda for this session, for instance? “Matters relating to the
definition and delimitation of outer space.”

The committee is going boldly where few lawyers have gone before — but
where more and more are headed, as human space exploration becomes
increasingly democratized and commercialized. Monday’s symposium on
“space traffic management” — this session’s first major conversation,
following opening remarks in a fourth-floor boardroom — included
presentations by experts from China, the International Association for
the Advancement of Space Safety, the U.N. International Communication
Union, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, among others. Click here.
(4/15)

SpaceX To Land Reusable Launcher on
Ground (Source: Defense News)
SpaceX hopes that the next attempt to land its Falcon 9 reusable launch
vehicle will occur on solid ground. While not providing details of when
or where that attempt would occur, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President
and COO, said that the company hopes its next attempted landing will
take place on land, not at sea.

All tests of the reusable vehicle have occurred over water as a safety
precaution, but the natural instability that occurs when a landing pad
floating in the ocean has a very heavy rocket land on top of it has led
to a series of near-misses for the technology. (4/15)

Space Industry Consolidation Continues
as Companies Seek Vertical Integration (Source: National Defense)
Exelis Inc. and Harris Corp. here at the 31st annual Space Symposium
have set up exhibit booths directly next to each other. By next year's
conference, they will be occupying the same spot. Harris in February
announced that it would acquire Exelis for $4.75 billion, making it the
latest in a wave of consolidation for companies who do business in the
space industry.

And mergers, large and small, continue. SolAero Technologies Corp. of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, announced April 14 that it was acquiring
Alliance Spacesystems LLC of Los Alamitos, California. SolAero
manufactures solar power systems for satellites and Alliance makes
composite materials that go aboard spacecraft. Brad Clevenger, SolAero
CEO, spoke of the two companies' synergies.

The hall at the Space Symposium has lost some of its largest exhibitors
as consolidation continues. The last few years has seen United
Technologies Corp. in 2011 buy Goodrich Corp. for $18.4 billion and
change its name to UTC Aerospace Systems. The year 2013 saw GenCorp.
acquire Pratt & Whitney's Rocketdyne division and combine it with
its competitor in the rocket motor business to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
More recently, satellite and rocket manufacturer Orbital Sciences
acquired one of its chief suppliers, ATK. (4/16)

Air Force to Team with Rocket Makers
on New Engine (Source: DOD Buzz)
The U.S. Air Force wants to partner with rocket makers — not engine
manufacturers — in developing a new propulsion system that could
replace Russian-made technology used on existing boosters, officials
said. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Gen. John Hyten, head
of Air Force Space Command, on Thursday at the Space Symposium
discussed plans for the so-called public-private partnership to develop
a new American-made rocket engine.

The service wants to award contracts to multiple firms to develop
potential alternatives to the RD-180 engine, James said. The Russian
design is made by NPO Energomash and used as a first-stage engine on
the Atlas booster in the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
program — an arrangement that has drawn scrutiny in the wake of Russian
military involvement in the Ukraine.

We would fund a number of launch service providers who would then start
developing engine alternatives,” the secretary said. “They would, as
part of this procedure, agree to make available to others whatever they
develop in the way of a new engine.” She added, “The idea being that we
would use government money for a number of companies, but they would
have to put some of their own money in, as well.” (4/16)

Orlando Researcher Sentenced for Lying
to NASA to Get Government Work (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
An Orlando-area businessman who formerly worked for Gartner Inc. has
been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $200,000 for lying to
NASA to obtain federal contract work. Donatus “Don” Asumu pleaded
guilty to lying about his employment status, concealing the fact that
he was a full-time employee with Gartner, a global technology advising
company.

Asumu, 52, was awarded research contracts from NASA because of the
false information, according to court documents. Asumu was also ordered
to turn in his car, a 2011 Nissan Juke, which the government said he
bought with the fraudulent contract money. He will spend 45 weekends at
the Brevard federal work camp. (4/16)

Why is Elon Musk Hellbent on Going to
Mars? (Source: Slate)
There are two answers to this. One is the actual answer. The other
isn't exactly wrong—it’s technically correct—but it’s incidental. And
it turns out that’s not even really the right question. He doesn't
necessarily want to retire on Mars, as was reported earlier, but he
dows think "humans need to be a multiplanet species.”

He didn’t need to explain his reasoning; I agree with that statement,
and I’ve written about it many times. Exploration has its own varied
rewards ... and a single global catastrophe could wipe us out. Space
travel is a means to mitigate that, and setting up colonies elsewhere
is a good bet. (4/16)

Our Risky Dependence on Russia's Space
Tech (Source: CNN)
The United States has gained much from its position as a space-faring
nation. Indeed, U.S. access to space has provided incredible benefit to
U.S. national security, defense and the economic well-being of the
nation. And in order to effectively confront current and future
conflicts, combat terrorism and counter the proliferating threats
worldwide, our military depends on space-based capabilities, including
intelligence, GPS, and communications satellites.

Unfortunately, as global threats increase and the need for assured
space access accelerates, the U.S. is faced with a troubling reality --
we are far too reliant on Russian technology to meet our national
security obligations. How?

For a start, we depend on the Atlas V rocket, which carries many of our
most important satellites and is powered by the Russian-made RD-180
rocket engine. The fact that we rely on Russia, currently under
sanctions for invading a sovereign nation, should reinforce the need
for a change in our current course. (4/16)

A New Satellite for One of the Great
U.S. Space Programs (Source: The Atlantic)
One of the U.S. government’s most useful science programs is also one
of its least known. The Landsat program doesn’t produce images like the
ones of astronauts playing golf on the moon nor geologists scaling an
erupting volcano, but it has created one of the most important
scientific repositories of data ever made.

Since 1972, one of the eight satellites in the Landsat program have
photographed the entire Earth every 16 days. That means every place
you’ve ever lived, worked, camped, run, swam, or looked at the stars—a
picture of that place has been taken from orbit, more than 20 times per
year, for more than four decades. You can even download those pictures
from the web.

Landsat forms one internally coherent set of data that goes back four
decades. This is part of what makes it so useful. And, on Thursday, it
was announced that this continuity will be protected. NASA and the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) have begun work on a new satellite in the
program, to be called Landsat 9. The new satellite is scheduled to
launch in 2023. (4/16)

USAF Worries SpaceX May Gain Monopoly
if ULA Can't Use RD-180s (Source: Denver Business Journal)
United Launch Alliance isn't the only one concerned about its ability
to stay in the space-launch business if Congress doesn't allow it
access to some of the Russian-made rocket engines it has ordered. The
U.S. Air Force worries that without congressional flexibility, ULA's
launching business could be jeopardized, and the country could be
reliant on a single rocket contractor — SpaceX — instead of ULA, said
Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the Air Force. (4/16)

How Space Flight Affects the Human Body
(Source: The Economist)
Mice, dogs and monkeys all became astronauts before humans did. On
April 12th 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in
space, when little was known about the effects spaceflight would have
on him. These days, astronauts spend a lot longer in space than Gagarin
did, and the effects add up over time. How does a trip to space impact
the human body?

The first problem for spacefarers is keeping lunch down. Gravity's pull
on the inner ear gives people on Earth a definite sense of "up" and
"down". Without it astronauts can suffer from disorientation and
nausea, or even lose the sense of where their arms and legs are. To
prevent that, trainees take practice trips in planes nicknamed "vomit
comets". These fly on parabolic trajectories, which means that for
short periods, the plane and its occupants are falling at the same
rate. That gives the impression of weightlessness. Click here.
(4/16)

Brazil Pulling Out of Ukrainian
Launcher Project (Source: Space News)
The Brazilian government is ending a decade-long project to operate
Ukraine’s Cyclone-4 rocket from Brazilian territory following a
government review that found too many open questions about its cost and
future market success, the deputy chief of the Brazilian Space Agency
(AEB) said.

It remains unclear whether the decision will force Brazil to pay
Ukraine any financial penalties for a unilateral cancellation of a
bilateral agreement. Over the years, the work to build a launch
facility for Ukraine’s Cyclone at Brazil’s Alcantara spaceport has
suffered multiple stops and starts as one side or the other fell short
on its financial obligations to the effort. (4/16)

Would-be Small Sat Launcher: Don’t
Count Out LEO Constellations (Source: Space News)
Technology advances since the space-telecom bust of the 1990s make it
unfair to compare low-orbit communications constellations proposed by
OneWeb and SpaceX to those that either evaporated from the drawing
board or got bullied into bankruptcy by terrestrial competitors before
the turn of the century, the chief technology officer of an aspiring
launch services company said.

Editor's Note:
The constellations might succeed, but will they use small-class
launchers? Iridium flew without using the small launchers available at
the time. Will today's constellations find it more economical to launch
in larger groups aboard larger rockets? That's what happened in the
1990s. (4/16)

Brazil Bypassing the U.S. as It Builds
out a Space Sector (Source: Space News)
The Brazilian government, which is determined to do in space what it
did in civil aviation — move from a buyer of technology to a producer
of commercial high-technology products — is multiplying bilateral
agreements around the world with one major exception: the United
States. Brazilian and non-Brazilian officials said the government
remains in full anti-ITAR mode, doing whatever it takes not to use
technology to which the U.S. government might one day deny access.
(4/16)

Putin: Russia to Launch National
Orbital Station by 2023 (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's plan to build a new space outpost was confirmed December 2014,
by Oleg Ostapenko, head of Roscosmos space agency at the time. He said
the new space station would also serve as a base for Russia's lunar
program. President Putin said: "By 2023 we are going to create our own
national orbital station in orbit… We will definitely bring this
project to fruition, and, no doubt, it will be under our control."
(4/16)

NewSat Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
(Source: Space News)
Startup satellite operator NewSat Ltd. of Australia on April 16 filed
for bankruptcy protection from creditors, with its executive team
stripped of control and bankruptcy managers immediately asking for a
restraining order against NewSat’s creditors. The bankruptcy filing,
which was not unexpected given NewSat’s long agony, is the first formal
satellite operator bankruptcy case in which the U.S. and French
export-credit agencies have a substantial liability. (4/16)

Space Treaties are a Challenge to
Launching Small Satellites in Orbit (Source: The Conversation)
Despite the tremendous potential offered by nanosats, it is important
to recognize that launching and flying any satellite, no matter how
small, is subject to strict rules under international law, as well as
regulatory requirements in national legislation. But these rules are a
constraint on the ability of small players to fly nanosats,
irrespective of the availability and cost of orbital launches.

Launches of Australian-owned satellites are subject to Commonwealth
legislation called the Space Activities Act. This was enacted in 1998,
primarily to establish a set of rules for private companies proposing
to launch satellites from various locations in this country. The
regulatory scheme also covers overseas launches. The Act states that,
where an Australian national is a responsible party for an overseas
launch, an overseas launch certificate is required.

The reason why the Australian Government must authorize an overseas
launch is that Australia has long accepted legal obligations for
spaceflight activities under the international space treaties. (4/16)